Organize Your Closet, Organize Your Life

Here is a speech I wrote for my Toastmaster's meeting today....

Good afternoon, everyone!

How many of you made a resolution in some form or another to “get organized” this year?

You will be happy to know that you are not alone. I googled the word “closet” and received about 45,500,000 results. The National Association of Professional Organizers deemed January National Get Organized Month and you can bet your Jimmy Choos that they are at your service should you need someone to come in and get your house in order for the year ahead.

When I signed up for this speech, I thought to myself “Perfect! I love to organize things!” I even wanted to join the National Association of Professional Organizers when I was between jobs at one point in my life. I have read books on Feng Shui and designed my living space according to those principals. Perhaps my interpretation is a bit too literal, and some of you may be wondering if I have been in secret contact with your spouses and or Mother’s over the holidays, but I think there is something to be said for the time and energy that can be conserved if you have a system in place in one of the most important, yet often neglected areas of the home.

Now some of you may make a case for the garage (leave it, it’s been 20 years, just sell it all when you sell the house) or the spare bedroom (forget it, they aren’t coming back to visit until Christmas, anyway) but I think the place to start is your very own closet in your very own room. This can be quite an overwhelming task, especially for those of you who have a spouse and/or kids that you share your house with. Perhaps you are single, but have been collecting things since Jr. High.

When you take the time to eliminate, categorize and streamline your things, you will find that you save time and money. There will be more space in your closet so that you can actually see what you own and maybe even find and use things you didn’t remember buying. When you are ready to shop, you can see what it is you are actually missing and spend less time at the store and less money buying things you don’t need because you will know exactly what you have already.

The first step is elimination. One of my favorite tips is to have a big shopping bag in your closet so that when you try something on and it doesn’t fit or is torn or just plain out of style, you can put it in the bag. Once all the bags are together at the end of the year or season, go through and determine what can be donated, what can be recycled and what needs to be thrown out.

Remember in kindergarten when everything was labeled and had its place? Try to think like that. Put like things together in groups by color or fabric or length or all three (like me!) You could arrange your clothes by material since Austin has two seasons HOT and fall. Be as specific or general as you like, but remember that the more organic and basic the setup, the easier it will be to maintain (especially for kiddos).

As far as streamlining goes, take a step back and think about how you like to get dressed in the morning. This will help you determine how you set up your closet. From shirts to shoes or vice versa, place the items in your closet next to each other in that order so that getting dressed is a breeze. Kids generally love to dress themselves and this will enable them to have their own setup and do their own thing in the morning while you do yours. Think how much easier it will be if you wash all the like items together then when they come out of the dryer, all you have to do is hang them up and put them in their sections.

If you make the effort, whether it is a weekend closet overhaul or a goal for 2010 – 2019, you will find that the time and energy you put into this space will be well worth it. Once you have eliminated the old and unfashionable, organized and streamlined what is left in your closet, you will find that tackling that garage or spare bedroom is not as difficult as you thought it might be. Then there will be space in your mind and your life for more good things to come.

Thank you!